Hope Leslie

EPUB EBook by Catharine Maria Sedgwick

EBook Description

I have to say I'm very surprised at the number of one- EPUBstar and two-star ratings for this book. Hope Leslie EPUB EBook Then again, maybe not. I suppose few people have too much patience for old-style writing these days. That's a shame.

While published in 1827, the author chose to set her novel in the mid 1600s and in the milieu of the Puritans of Massachusetts in order to examine her present and America's future"by way of the past."Morehere re plot, etc.

I can't possibly begin to expound on all of the issues that Sedgwick raises in this book —serious reflections on the roles and futures of women in America, the presence of women in the public sphere, their submission to male authority, the ethical treatment of Native Americans, the rigidity of the Puritans, the historical record vs. an alternate theory re what really happened as far as Puritan-Native American interaction, whether or not tolerance can exist between Native Americans and the people who continue to move further out into the American frontier — all of these subjects would demand much more time than I can give to them.The focus is on the two main characters ofHope and Magawisca, who are each in their own right heroines of their time, each able to use her own good judgment and sense of moral right to better an entire community even though their actions are at odds with prevailing authority. Each lets her own moral code guide her in her actions,each strongly speaks out against injustice, and each is a strong representation of what all people, not just women, can aspire to as individuals in a quickly-growingand changing America of Sedgwick's time.

Hope Leslie is an amazing book on several levels and I have no hesitation in recommending it even to the most casual of readers who may want something very different.The only issue that people unacquainted with novel writing of this time period might run up against is in the way Sedgwick writes, which is sort of bulky and complicated while we're used to more streamlined prose; download; despite this minor impediment, though, the story flows nicely and very quickly over the nearly 400 pages.It is another book I'm very happy to have discovered. Like this book? Read online this: People of the Silence (North America's Forgotten Past, #8), The Collected Essays of Leslie Fiedler.